Wednesday, November 24, 2010

I seem to have these little off blog periods don't I? Well this latest one was induced by a bout of night duty itis combined with sinusitis and the end result was a tired, snotty, cranky me. Now I am on antibiotics, have had a moderate amount of sleep and no longer feel that death is imminent. I have achieved some (small) things in my down time such as read a book (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay) and seen a movie (Harry Potter, what else?) and played the violin in a concert (Beethoven Symphony) and gone to work. So now I am going to try and get my blog back to it's former glory (haha) before I go on a two week holiday soon. Yay!!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

I haven't written anything on here for a very long time. This is due to a combination of excessive night duties and general slackness. But I do feel the need to share with you all the wonderful music that is Ingrid Michaelson.

On Tuesday I discovered that she was going be in Brisbane this Friday (which was yesterday) and I took my lovely sister to the gig last night and it was amazing! I haven't had the pleasure of seeing her live before and it was one of the most amazing live performances I have ever seen. If you listen to any of her songs you are immediately struck by the quality of her voice and the dreamy, quirky, beautiful lyrics of her songs. Despite their upbeat happy tunes they are often incredibly moving and have awesome imagery.

Me going on and on about her will not do her any justice, so I suggest you watch this clip of her that some lovely Brisbane resident kindly uploaded to youtube. Don't give up because of the banter at the start!!

Monday, November 1, 2010

Now I know I intended to review Taylor's new album on Friday but there was lots of celebrating to be done and cosmopolitans to be drunk and I was just too excited!! So here is my review now. Warning: this will be brimming with over-the-top enthusiasm as this was THE BEST ALBUM EVER!

Speak Now has 14 tracks on it and I will admit I was a little bit nervous about it. I have been disappointed by third albums before when the artist is now quite famous and becomes less like themselves as a result. Well the exact opposite is true of this album!! Taylor (as we are now on a first name basis) wrote all the songs on this album without a co-writer and subsequently they are all entirely honest and magical.

She also has such a wicked sense of humour and writes songs that are funny and clever. I think it can be a big risk in the music business to write funny songs which may be misconstrued as serious, and I understand that as a result of this Taylor can sometimes be misunderstood as immature and bitter. She so is not!! A lot of her songwriting is very tongue-in-cheek and I completely love that I am often torn between singing my lungs out and laughing my head off. How is this for a lyric?

She's not a saint and she's not what you think

She's an actress, woah!

But she's better known for the things that she does

On the mattress, woah!

I love being able to listen to her CD and guess what each song is about, sometimes it is obvious, sometimes not. There are some great sing-along songs such as Mine, Sparks Fly, The Story of Us and Haunted which are beautifully written and full of drama which I love, but also some beautiful ballads, some heartbreaking (Never Grow Up, Back To December, Dear John, Last Kiss), some forgiving (Innocent) and some magical (Enchanted). There is humour in Speak Now, Better Than Revenge and Mean, and then the one that I think is my favourite. Long Live. This one actually made me cry, it was written for her band about their time on the Fearless Tour (how beautiful is that?) and I just love it.

Long live the walls we crashed through

All the kingdom lights shine just for me and you

I was screaming "long live, all the magic we made"

And bring on all the pretenders

I'm not afraid

Long live all the mountains we moved

I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you

Long live the look on your face

And bring on all the pretenders

One day

We will be remembered

This is my favourite album ever. I love it love it love it and will be listening to it non stop forever I suspect. I can't wait another minute for her to tour here!! Long live Taylor Swift!!

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

I have seen things about the It Gets Better/Trevor Project on a few blogs floating around and I think it is just the most important and wonderful thing. For any young person to feel there is no solution to their problems is utterly tragic and for LGBT teens this is such a problem, particularly in America, at the moment. I have some wonderful gay and lesbian friends who lead fabulous and happy lives and I think it is the most tragic thing to think that some people are so marginalised and bullied that they can't see into the future and realise how magical and wonderful life should be. For everybody. There are hundreds of moving videos on youtube at the moment bringing the message "It Gets Better".